Virtual Ability

Wednesday, May 23, 2018

According to a 2013 survey by the American Cleaning Institute, nearly three-quarters of US households do some form of spring cleaning. What rooms are the most often cleaned?

Bedrooms

Kitchens

Bathrooms

Cleaning chores that are not on the typical weekly cleanup list are most often tackled during spring cleaning. Almost four out of five who do spring cleaning attack windows, blinds, and curtains. Other important areas for cleaning (by over two-thirds of cleaners) include clothes, closets and drawers, ceiling fans and carpets. Almost half of all cleaners scrub out their trash cans.

You might want to compare your spring cleaning list or its priority ranking of chores to this list.

You might be wondering, why is spring the traditional season for a thorough house cleaning?

Actually the idea of spring cleaning has deep historical roots. There are also practical and possibly physiological reasons for doing a careful cleanup of our living quarters at this time or year.

Many cultures and religions mark the beginning of a new year in the springtime. There is the Chinese New Year, the Iranian (Persian) Nowruz, and the Jewish Passover.

Even as recently as a century ago, when our homes were heated in the wintertime by burning wood or coal, and lighted with lamps that burned kerosene or whale oil, the soot and grime from these winter technologies built up on walls, windows, and furnishings. Springtime was a good time to clean these off. Warmer weather also meant that windows could be opened to air out the rooms.

Physiologically, the fewer hours of daylight during winter triggers the release of melatonin in our brains. This hormone makes us feel less energetic and more sleepy. We don’t have as much energy for heavy cleaning activities in darker winter months.

But with the return of early daybreak and later sunset in springtime, our melatonin production drops, we have more energy, and therefore we are more likely to feel like cleaning. It may also be true that the increased light levels make visible dirt we did not notice during darker months.

Not really into spring cleaning? The 2018 survey by the American Cleaning Institute found that over a third of those who deep clean their homes do it in a season other than spring. And 6% never deep clean at all.

During the next few weeks, Virtual Ability’s blog will feature tips and articles about spring cleaning, to assist the majority of us, who do still believe that spring is the best time to spruce up your living quarters.

A strong and varied lineup awaits attendees this year, with the theme being "I Am Not My Illness: Identity and Mental Health." The entire conference will be livestreamed at this link: https://gaming.youtube.com/c/AvaconOrg/live for those who cannot attend the event in world. If you are coming into Second Life for the first time to attend, you can visit this page for steps to enter Second Life and come to The Sojourner Auditorium. Below is a quick listing of the conference schedule. All times are Pacific Daylight Time (PDT).

In the weeks leading up to the conference, we met with the presenters to orient them to giving their talks in this virtual setting. In doing this, we coach them through navigating with their avatars, dressing them according to their preferences, and using the screen and teleprompter presentation tools. They discover it is not exactly the same as giving a presentation in the physical world, but the outcome is the same. Their message is shared and the audiences actively engage in discussions during the Q&A periods.

To the right, you see an image of the avatar of a presenter for the conferece, Joe DeLuca. He created this avatar for his appearance at this conference. You will see that all the presenters have unique appearances that suit them.

Here at right is a snapshot of a pair of avatars who look quite similar. One of them is presenter Alita Nandi; the other is Gentle Heron. Who is which? (Hint: The avatar on the left wanted to make her appearance more unique.) In the process of orientation, we help the presenters to customise their avatars - it helps them to reflect themselves the way they wish to appear at the conference.

As a special mid-conference feature we are excited to feature a performance by ~DRUM~, a drumming troupe well known for its wonderfully creative, original rhythms.

The name DRUM is an acronym: Divine Rhythms of Universal Music. DRUM's goal is to bring the world to you via the power of drumming, with the aim to have fun and to create incredibly beautiful rhythms - live. All of their works are their own, drawing inspiration from 10 different drum cultures.

The researchers looked at longitudinal food diaries (lists of everything a person eats) for three years from more than 12,000 Australians of all ages.

They found that life satisfaction and happiness increased with each additional daily serving of produce people ate. The greatest positive change in life satisfaction occurred for those individuals who changed from eating less than one portion of produce a day to more than eight. The change in their life satisfaction was equivalent to the gain in psychological well-being that they would have obtained from changing from unemployment to employed status.

Another great thing about the benefits of including more fruits and veggies in your meals is that these results happen quite a bit more quickly than do most physical health benefits from improving your diet.

Wednesday, March 7, 2018

March 7th is National Cereal Day. But that doesn’t mean we should indulge in sugar-sweetened refined-flour breakfast treat. With all the brightly colored boxes staring at you from the cereal aisle in the supermarket, how can you make a healthy choice for the morning meal?

You should be looking for a cereal with low calories per serving, high in fiber and protein, and full of vitamins and minerals to give you the best nutritional benefits.

For the healthiest cereals, check that each serving contains 5 grams or more of fiber. Fiber in your diet not only helps material move through your digestive system, but it can also help lower blood cholesterol and blood glucose.

Also, be sure your cereal choice contains 10 grams or less of sugar per serving. Eating sugar can give you a quick energy boost, but often this is followed by a “sugar crash.” Cavity-causing bacteria thrive on the sugar on your teeth after you eat sweetened cereals. Excess sugar in the bloodstream can lead to depression, weight gain, inflammation, higher blood pressure, insulin resistance, and Type 2 diabetes. Find out more about the effects of a high sugar diet by reading this article at WebMD: How Does Too Much Sugar Affect Your Body?

Still think your cereal needs a little sweetening? Consider topping it with fresh or dried fruit. A sprinkle of cinnamon is also refreshing.

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Products and services that are mentioned are for educational and informational purposes only, never provided or represented in any way as therapeutic recommendations, prescriptions, medical treatments, advice, or diagnosis. Always consult your own medical care provider.

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Opinions and comments expressed in blog articles are those of the authors, and do not represent the Virtual Ability, Inc. corporation.

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Virtual Ability, Inc. is a US non-profit corporation with a mission to enable people with a wide range of disabilities by providing a supporting environment for them to enter and thrive in online virtual worlds. Find out more: www.virtualability.org